This invention relates to a method and apparatus for a railroad crosstie made from used tires. Each tire is severed with a radial cut and the sidewalls are removed. Longitudinal and lateral cuts along the inner surface may be made to facilitate flattening. Opposing inner surfaces are joined in sets and then stacked and bundled to form a railroad crosstie.
Alternative technology is available in the form of a railroad crosstie which includes an I-beam member made of a combination of recycled materials, including crumb rubber. See U.S. Pat. No. 6,247,651 issued on Jun. 19, 2001 to Marinelli and U.S. Pat. No. 6,179,215 issued on Jan. 30, 2001 to Shea. Also see U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,021,958 issued in 2000 to Smith; U.S. Pat. No. 5,336,016 issued in 1994 to Baatz; U.S. Pat. No. 5,172,858 issued to Frohn in 1992; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,416,419 issued in 1983 to Ohno all for railroad crossties employing recycled elastic materials.
Also see U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,464,153, 5,605,282 and 5,826,791, in which a used tire is modified and employed as a rail support; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,893,619 for a crosstie comprising an elongated block of rubber between end plates connected by rods, where the rubber block is produced from tire grindings. Another is U.S. Pat. No. 4,108,377 for a non-metallic reinforced molded crosstie having wooden reinforcing members.
A disadvantage to all of the foregoing devices is that they require a variety of additional components and are costly to produce. Additionally, they fail to use most of the used tire itself.
While die cut recycled tires have been used in consumer products and construction equipment for transmitting torque, absorbing vibration, sealing gaps against granular leakage, and conveying and spreading materials, because of their ability to withstand cyclical flexing and allow for thermal expansion and contraction, the variety of shapes and sizes has been limited to thicknesses of 0.750 inches. (See two page TICOR Synthetic Fiber Reinforced Rubber Material specification.) See also Japanese Patent, JP 6-2301 where a used tire is cut, laid flat and bonded to the bottom surface of a concrete sleeper, and German Patent, No. 3338-222 for a universal layered elastic rail mounting including a series of rubber units disposed between a plate and a cover plate. Unfortunately, the nature of tires provides an inherent circumferential curvature about the tire axis which is reinforced by the circumferential belts or cords and an axial curvature of the central initially treaded section disposed between the sidewalls is inherent as well.
To alleviate these problems, and others which will become apparent from the disclosure which follows, the present invention conveniently places incisive cuts to facilitate flattening of the central initially treaded section. Moreover, in several embodiments, the apparatus and method provide for inner surfaces of the central initially treaded sections to be disposed in a face to face relationship, thus exerting opposing forces to facilitate flattening. Moreover, the method of the invention described provides that inter-layer adhesives may be applied to maintain the face to face relationship of the various layers. Banding the layers together further facilitates the relationship above described.
Additionally, the invention provides a method of utilizing smaller tires whose circumference are less than the required length of a standard railroad crosstie. As a result, the instant invention teaches means for a railroad crosstie which can be substituted for existing wood crosstie in a size generally 8.5 feet in length, 8 inches in height, and 7.75 inches in width from a variety of initial tire sizes and dimensions. This new stable yet resilient crosstie will last for years beyond the wooden ties currently being used.
The citation of the foregoing publications is not an admission that any particular publication constitutes prior art, or that any publication alone or in conjunction with others, renders unpatentable any pending claim of the present application. None of the cited publications is believed to detract from the patentability of the claimed invention.
Unlike the foregoing devices which teach crossties created from the crumb rubber of ground used tires, the current invention uses the circumferential belts (cords) as well. New manufacturing techniques disclosed in the method of making railroad crossties comprises means for maintaining a flattened layer including longitudinal cuts on the inner surface of the central initially treaded section that do not extend all the way through the central initially treaded section to reduce the lateral curvature of the central initially treaded section, and transverse cuts through at least some of the circumferential belts to reduce longitudinal curvature of the central initially treaded section. These incisive cuts facilitate flattening of the central initially treaded section.
Additionally, the apparatus and methods disclosed herein provide for inner surfaces of the central initially treaded sections to be disposed in a face to face relationship where the inherent lateral and longitudinal curvature forces can be placed in opposition to facilitate flattening.
It is anticipated that while a wood tie is designed to lasts approximately 13 years and are left in place generally twice that long, the fabricated recycled tire crosstie of this invention will last for approximately 75 years. Moreover, the railway crossties made today are made of treated wood timbers. These crossties are 229 mm. widexc3x97138 mm. high and generally 259:2 cm long. The treatment used in the wood crossties can be creosote, chromated copper arsenic, and other environmentally harmful chemicals. The weathering affect on these wood crossties spoils the surrounding soil. This environmental problem is obviated by the current invention.
These together with other objects of the invention, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the invention are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure. For a better understanding of the invention, its operating advantages and the specific objects attained by its uses, reference should be had to the accompanying drawings and descriptive matter in which there is illustrated preferred embodiments of the invention.
Still other advantages will be apparent from the disclosure that follows.
The invention relates to a method and apparatus for a railroad crosstie made from a plurality of tires. The method provides for cutting through a radial sector of each of said plurality of tires, removing the sidewalls from a central initially treaded section, and aligning an inner surface of the central initially treaded section of one of said plurality of tires in a face to face relationship with an inner surface of another of said plurality of tires to form an opposing set. A plurality of opposing sets are then stacked and bundled to form a railroad crosstie.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the invention in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are, of course, additional features of the invention that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception upon which this disclosure is based, may readily be utilized as a basis for the designing of other structures, methods and systems for carrying out the several purposes of the present invention. It is important, therefore, that the claims be regarded as including such equivalent constructions insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention.